Toby Sept 9, 10 w/DD

[diverbrian]

I arrived in Tobermory about ten minutes behind the rest of the DD group on Friday. That was about 5:00 in the afternoon. It was raining and the wind was blowing real well. We watched some videos in Darryl's room and discussed the option of doing our full day charter on Sunday when things were supposed to lay down vice Saturday.

On Satuday morning, we awoke and went to breakfast. The Canadian flags in the marina were snapping briskly from the east wind. We decided to do our half day's charter on Satuday and used the time to do some shopping and get the Deep Obsession loaded up. I heard estimates of 3-6 ft. waves from some of the passengers. The dive shop was suprised that the Deep Obsession left the dock.

At noon, we headed out for the John C. King. This schooner barge was in tow by the Wetmore it was cut loose in a storm. The idea was to give the Wetmore more manuveurability. Well, it didn't work too well because the next dive that we dove was the Wetmore.

Anyways the King sits along the incline of the island and the wreckage starts about 30-40 ft. The bow is at 85 ft-90 ft. It still has it's Roman numeral draft markings. It's a neat little wreck and gave me time to get my photography skills back.

The Wetmore lies just around the point. My buddy and I followed Dallas to the wreck site in about 30 ft. of water. The highlights of this old wooden steamer are the boiler and the anchor. This is the first time that I have dove this wreck as I normally get blown off of it. But that wind direction was a little unusual. It closed most of the dives and opened some that aren't open quite as often. I got some great photos of my dive buddy on the anchor and near the boiler.

The ride back in was nicer than the ride out, so we were hoping to get out to some of the other wrecks on Sunday .

We chose to use the hotel's deck to watch the sunset and order out for food Saturday night instead of going out.

 

[diverbrian]

We got to breakfast to find the flags not snapping briskly (This is good!). So, we planned to dive the Forest City, the Arabia, and the Niagara II. We chose to do three dives to give people a chance to head home earlier.

Well, the Forest City was a wooden steamer that following another ship's wake in a heavy fog. The current had moved the wake and the Forest City wound up squarely hitting an island. Eventually, it slid into the deeper water where it sits today. There are two highlights to this dive. One is the boilers at 120 ft. which is where most of us went. The other is the stern at 150 ft. where a few of the divers who brought trimix with them went.

My buddy and I played with crayfish on the way down to the boiler. We poked around some of the wood boards that came up and looked at the boiler for a minute or so. Up we went (slowly). Upon reaching the surface, we noticed that the wave height had changed significantly and NOT for the better. My dive buddy and I were the last ones on the boat and we were getting beat up by the waves in doing so. As a matter of fact both us dropped slightly below the surface waiting to board.

The Arabia sits in more open water and was blown off. The plan now became to end the day with the Niagara II (more sheltered water) and the Sweepstakes (which sits right in the harbor).

My personal plans changed as well. My dive buddy had an issue with seasickness and told me that she couldn't dive the rest of the day. I dove the Niagara II with some of the other "technically rigged" divers on board and had some fun. BTW, the Niagara II is an artificial reef in about ninety ft. of water. Most of the dive is between 45-75 ft. with lots of open wreck pentration opportunities.

I took the opportunity while the most of the others were diving the Sweepstakes to see some color come back into my dive buddy's face and to restow gear with a clear deck to expedite off-loading it when we got back in. I have dove the Sweepstakes enough on prior trips that I simply didn't feel the need to dive it again without someone to show it to. Besides, I had a long drive home last night and I knew it. I ate the leftovers on the boat to prepare.

All in all, it was a great trip that I told myself that I would never do again. Likely I will go up there again with this group next year. It was a lot of fun. Larry and his wife on the Deep Obsession remind me why I like that dive boat so much. This trip was blast even if I had a forty-five minute wait to get through customs on the way home. (once I got there the customs inspector took all of three minutes with me, LOL).

 

[Ber Rabbit]

When the Deep Obsession can't get out it pays to check with G&S and see if they are running. We took the Joseph Simon to the Niagara II in 5-7 footers when we were up there a couple of weeks ago.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[diverbrian]

When the Deep Obsession can't get out it pays to check with G&S and see if they are running. We took the Joseph Simon to the Niagara II in 5-7 footers when we were up there a couple of weeks ago.
Ber :lilbunny:

Saturday, G&S wasn't running in the afternoon either. We were actually the only dive boat out there in the afternoon. Diver's Den was pretty well shocked that Capt. Larry took us out at all. The Bruce Isles across the pier ran as well. But they didn't run an afternoon charter. The only reason that we went out was that things did lie down a bit at the point in the afternoon when we left and we dove about the only two wrecks that were sheltered from the wind coming in from the east.

Things were just plain rough on both days. When we got to the Niagara II it wasn't too bad until I came up fourty five minutes later. I understand that it was actually pretty rough up there through most of my dive. That was one reason that I opted to do one. I wasn't seasick, but I was headed that way. Hanging out on the surface may have had me feeding the fish as well.

 

[Tavi]

Thanks for the reports!!

Wish I could have been there..........